Fake, fake world....

[Cem_Usakligil]

While touring through USA, I came once more to realize that we are surrounded by a crazy phenomenon which I personally refer to as the “Disney-a-zation” of our society. BTW, this is a plague which spans the whole globe, not only the States.

It seems that we nowadays have to have “theme” versions of everything; stores, restaurants, bars, hotels, museums, attractions, what have you. This trend and it’s (by)products are fake, ugly and totally in your face in my opinion.

While visiting one of those theme restaurants (yes, guilty as charged –LOL), I have suddenly had this idea of shooting overtly fake and ugly pictures, much like the millions of snapshots produced daily by full automatic digicams with their tiny flash units.

So here is what I have got to show. Tell me what you think of this phenomenon pls.

Cheers,

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Looks like you visited the xxx . A chain restaurant with a theme that makes money because a lot of people take their kids for a brief break from reality to eat mediocre food.

At Disneyland they have a whole fake California Adventure. Fake Napa, Fake Venice Beach, Fake Hollywood.

Reality is optional now.

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hi Kathy,

Your guess was right but I have removed the name of the restaurant since they are not my target but the phenomenon itself.

Cheers,

 

[Martin Kuivenhoven]

it's the only eatery my kids remember from a trip to disney (xxx is at eurodisney as well) so I guess it is aimed at a different segment then us adults. On the other hand as parents you can have a easy meal as the kids are entertained. And that is often missing in the more serious restaurants where the kids should behave flawless or it is prefered not to bring them altogether. So for us, with a 10 and a six yr old, these places are often the best alternative when on the road.

The only exception being a restaurant in Greece where the kids where welcome at the table with the parents or the kids meals were served in advance (and with priority) whereafter they could go into a play area with a caretaker. They remained in eyesight and could come say high now and then. We ended up having the best meals there!

So fix the real issue first and then we can do away with the plasticky places ..

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

it's the only eatery my kids remember from a trip to disney (xxx is at eurodisney as well) so I guess it is aimed at a different segment then us adults. On the other hand as parents you can have a easy meal as the kids are entertained. And that is often missing in the more serious restaurants where the kids should behave flawless or it is prefered not to bring them altogether. So for us, with a 10 and a six yr old, these places are often the best alternative when on the road.

The only exception being a restaurant in Greece where the kids where welcome at the table with the parents or the kids meals were served in advance (and with priority) whereafter they could go into a play area with a caretaker. They remained in eyesight and could come say high now and then. We ended up having the best meals there!

So fix the real issue first and then we can do away with the plasticky places ..

Hi Martin,

I am sorry but I my issue is not about this particular restaurant (or any other one). Neither it is about whether the kids can eat an enjoyable meal or not. As I wrote, it is about the fake environments one comes accross in all sorts of businesses/venues.

Regards,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Please take notice...

... that I have nothing against this particular restaurant chain and I'll appreciate it very much if you'll kindly not use it's name in your posts. Otherwise I'll be forced to remove my images.

Thanks,

 

[Gary Ayala]

I love inspiration ... you are a true artist.

Gary

 

[Ken Tanaka]

Hello Cem,
It looks to me like you've got hold of a thread from which you can weave an interesting (i.e. depressing) photographic essay. I suspect that someone like Martin Parr may already have been down that road, but no matter.

Go, man, go.

 

[doug anderson]

Hideous. It's part of the homogenization process by which people's imaginations are colonized by commercial iconography rather than being nurtured to be personally inventive.

One day I was at the gym in California and I looked at a line of women on the treadmills. They had all been customized: none of their body parts moved because they'd been surgically enhanced, as if they were all aspiring to the condition of Barbi. Downright scary in a science fiction sense. Made me want to go live in the woods. One imagines that their sexual responses would sound like porno sound tracks.

Arrrrrgh.

There's a great scene in the director's cut of Apocalypse Now when these G.I.'s find some Playboy bunnies who were stranded when their helicopter went down. This would be the boys' dream come true, right? Unfortunately, they can't get interested in the actual women, because they'd seen them in the blow brushed version that appeared in the centerfolds. They keep holding up the centerfolds trying to get the women to become them. Thanatos wins over Eros. Devastating.

Scary.

 

[Martin Kuivenhoven]

Cem, to move away from a specific example I think that sometimes one may experience a place as fake where as someone else may experience it as a nice setting.

For example, think in the meantime 20 yrs ago on a formal business trip, we checked in an hotel in the Philly area after a late dinner. Due to late arrival we were upgrade to a nicer floor with, as turned out, theme rooms. It was quite a surprise when I switched on the lights and a full Flintstone setting emerged (with in the center of the room a bubble bath in a rock formation - lol) The morning after my collegue (Sherlock Holmes themed room) and I had a good laugh about it. That was fake but fun(ny) nevertheless.

In analogy there are a couple of western bars in the Netherlands which per definition are fake since they are created to resemble an american western bar. But once inside the music is there, the food is there and the athmosphere is there too. So these guys are fake but they are good at it ..

So, I don't think that they need to be in your face if done well but I guess it is up to personal taste where "over the top" starts ..

(on the other hand I do have the same feeling when watching musicals a see actors running around in monkey suits, if you are not captured by their play it becomes a very silly sight ..)

Martin

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Rats!

Cem,

When you were in California, I should have suggested that you stay at the Madonna Inn.

Fantasy abounds.

The media has brought us to places that we never dreamed possilbe so now we want the impossible. I think much of it has caused society to live to excess. Look at the fantasy world in Dubai! We vacation at Disney - not just in Anaheim, but around the world now. When you visit cities, you see very little of the real city/world. You go to monuments of history, churches and theme parks otherwise, you go shopping. We avoid living in the touristic areas - they are not real.

People cannot afford this plasticisation of the world. Plastic Surgeons make millions of dollars annually. Silicone is implanted where ever imperfection lies.

Now, as photographers, we have the tools like Photoshop to add to the fantasy. Liquify, colorize, modify until we see perfection - but not reality!

 

[Martin Kuivenhoven]

..

had this idea of shooting overtly fake and ugly pictures, much like the millions of snapshots produced daily by full automatic digicams with their tiny flash units.
..

Had a second look at the pictures with this intend as reference and (didn't notice at first, sorry still learning) it is a questionable compliment to give if one is able to achieve the image quality of a compact with a 40D with 17-40L.

Thanks for pointing at your "point"..

Martin

 

[Asher Kelman]

While touring through USA, I came once more to realize that we are surrounded by a crazy phenomenon which I personally refer to as the “Disney-a-zation” of our society. BTW, this is a plague which spans the whole globe, not only the States.

So here is what I have got to show. Tell me what you think of this phenomenon pls.

Hi Cem,

Let me, as is my wont, try to look at this from a somewhat different perspective.

Getty Image Real Live Frogs Are under Threat

An international campaign has been launched to help save the world’s amphibians from extinction.

Scientists fear the largest mass extinction since the disappearance of the dinosaurs because of a deadly disease which is sweeping through populations of frogs, toads, newts, salamanders and caecilians across the globeAmphibians are under threat Amphibians have thrived for hundreds of millions of years but as many as half of all species could perish unless a solution is found. The spread of the parasitic fungus amphibian chytrid, which has proved deadly for hundreds of amphibian species, may have been made worse by the effects of global warming. The disease has so far proved unstoppable in the wild and can kill 80 per cent of native amphibians within months once it has taken hold.

Amphibians are important as an 'indicator species’ - similar to canaries in a coal mine - who serve as a warning when there is something wrong with the environment. Now 2008 has been designated Year of the Frog by conservationists to raise awareness of the plight of amphibians and to raise the funds needed for a concerted worldwide effort to save them.

The Amphibian Conservation Action Plan (ACAP) aims to protect the habitat of the amphibians while at the same time finding answers to the environmental problems they face.

The biggest initiative will be an amphibian version of Noah’s Ark costing an estimated £30m where the most vulnerable species will be moved into protected areas in zoos, aquariums and other institutions around the world so their future survival can be guaranteed.

The ambitious rescue plan is being organised by the IUCN/SSC Conservation Breeding Specialist Group, the IUCN/SSC Amphibian Specialist Group, and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA).

“Widespread extinction of amphibians would be catastrophic,” said Jeffrey P. Bonner, chairman of Amphibian Ark and president and CEO of the St. Louis Zoo.

“In addition to their intrinsic value, they offer many benefits and are a critical part of a healthy world. They play an important role in the food web as both predator and prey, eating insects which benefits agriculture and minimizes disease spread. Their skin also has substances that protect them from some microbes and viruses, offering promising medical cures for a variety of human diseases.

The conservation groups hope the captive management plan will buy time for the most endangered species which will eventually be reintroduced back into the wild once the threats they face have been removed."​

So guys, we do need families to know about real frogs and other reptiles! We also can use the plastic ape as an good messenger for the real ones!

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

One of the nice things about fake monkey is that don't "poop" or need grazing cattle or extra vegetation to feed them. We can have children enjoy them in cities which are not a good place for the genuine creatures anyway. In fact they are hardly healthy for us!

By contrast the absolutely beautiful and precious relatives of ours the apes, are sensitive to pressures even in their own natural habitat. We have removed them from their isolation and we exploit and devout them to extinction. Love of toy or other fake apes can in fact move children to consider these creatures as friends and worthy of interest. So after reading the kids the stories, visiting theme parks where large apes loom up from the jungle making kids shriek, we can take our kids to the zoos to see real creatures.

Under pressure: The Critically Endangered grey-shanked douc langur

'Primates face extinction crisis'

By Mark Kinver
Science and nature reporter, BBC News

A global review of the world's primates says 48% of species face extinction, an outlook described as "depressing" by conservationists. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species says the main threat is habitat loss, primarily through the burning and clearing of tropical forests. More than 70% of primates in Asia are now listed as Endangered, it adds. The findings form part of the most detailed survey of the Earth's mammals, which will be published in October.​

PRIMATES IN PERIL
Nations with the highest percentage of threatened species:
Cambodia - 90%
Vietnam - 86%
Indonesia - 84%
Laos - 83%
China - 79%
(Source: IUCN Red List)
​

Other threats include hunting of primates for food and the illegal wildlife trade, explained Russell Mittermeier, chairman of the IUCN Primate Specialist Group and president of Conservation International.
"In many places, primates are quite literally being eaten to extinction," he warned.
"Tropical forest destruction has always been the main cause, but now it appears that hunting is just as serious a threat in some areas, even where the habitat is still quite intact."
​

Source.​

The primates, especially the great apes, (another bunch of whom were slaughtered recently by various warring parties in Rwanda) are also under threat of extinction. Even game reserve officers are now hunted as prey!

Humans always had dolls, trinkets and talisman to give diversion. I'd rather they used fake plastic than cage more animals under cruel conditions. The frog is a happy fellow and the apes are fun. These are going to provide fun for families and there's no extra risk. These things last a long time, so there is little bad about them. Fake breasts, OTOH are a fraud, a self deception and a social disease. That is bad since we have devalued our own sense of worth.

I would hope that these theme parks when they show these fake creatures would also give families information of their local zoos and wildlife sanctuaries. That way we can redirect fun and fantasy to positive values.

Dolls serve a social function in giving children a sense of responsibility. We should exploit that not fear it!

I love fake objects like Rollex watches and Ferragamo purses. They often are pretty good value.

"Created by Marc Jacobs, the Riveting collection is punctuated with rivets and zippered closures. It comes in Monogramed Canvas and features top-stitched leather trimmings and an LV Inventeur plaque. Textile lining and natural cowhide trimmings. Golden brass pieces and snapped closure on the two side pockets and a double zippered central compartment. Inside patch pocket and cellphone compartment. Two external zippered pockets. Adjustable natural cowhide straps. 13.8 x 8.6 x 6.7

© Girls Gone Glamorous used under "fair use doctrine" for editorial comment

Quantity:
Price: $1795.00
Sale Price:$1495.00 Source.

Now do you think it's fake or not to have such a genuine handbag, the actual idea of the Marc Jacobs himself? Or do you find it humorous that some Ethiopians are right now spreading out or packing up a display of knock-offs on every other bridge by the Grand Canal in Venice and other places around Europe. If you bargain well, you might get such a fake, but a genuine fake for the princely sum of about $18 or so. Perhaps for you with the camera, a spacial price for the lady, $220!

Asher

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

Nice fake...

I'd take the knock off bag because I can have it and a trip to Florence to buy it for the price of the original! The bag serves the very same purpose whether it's "real" or not. How does the fake frog serve the same purpose to man other than for entertainment and amusement? The real frog has a place in nature and the fake frog destroys it by it's manufacturing process using our natural resources which are destroying the planet! Sounds omnious to me. Let's go to Disneyland and play in the fantasy world for a while. I can't take all this reality!

 

[Asher Kelman]

I'd take the knock off bag because I can have it and a trip to Florence to buy it for the price of the original! The bag serves the very same purpose whether it's "real" or not. How does the fake frog serve the same purpose to man other than for entertainment and amusement? The real frog has a place in nature and the fake frog destroys it by it's manufacturing process using our natural resources which are destroying the planet! Sounds omnious to me. Let's go to Disneyland and play in the fantasy world for a while. I can't take all this reality!

Kathy,

What do you mean saying "let's go to Disneyland and play in the fantasy world for a while"? That, my love is the frog! It's just more complex a fantasy but still no different than a frog.

Mickey mouse or the various floats in the parade cost fuel to put on. People drive miles to get there too. A lot of consumtion of energy, but it does give pleasure.

Now the little plastic frog will last for 50 years and by then will either be recycled, saving resources or else be collected as a relic of this time. Little plastic frogs do not use any gas or other material once they are purchased and give pleasure to kids day in day out! Also the child will now recognize the creatures when it visits a zoo or the countryside.

My grandson has a fake monkey! I'm so glad it's fake, despite the fact that hydrocarbons were used in its MFR. It's a soft cuddly monkey, pure fakery but conveniently doesn't carry viruses or poop all over the place. He loves it and I'll read him stories about real ones and then teach him about them in the zoo. Hopefully there will be some left when he grows up!

Yes, you got the point about the LV purse. Being real is to get a genuine fake one!

Asher

 

[Georg R. Baumann]

Hello Cem,

I think you are touching a deep subject here. "They present" us a world that is supposed to be consumed in the first place. I believe it is this consumer plague which is at the roots of such phenomenons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz believed that we are over stimluated by media messages which leads to a emotional numbness. Instead of going out into the world and experiencing it ourselves, we are presented a fake, which of course carries a marketing message for us to be manipulated with.

I intend to think the same, well, I experienced it. I used to live in big cities, the really fast paced life, and looking back now, I can see what he meant. I made the consious choice to stay away from it. A little extreme it may occur to some, but I avoid cities like the pest. LOLOL

I have a funny story to share in that respect, a friend and business partner of mine that I had not seen for many years, visited me when I lived somewhat remote in Belgium. He arrived and stepped out of his car, looking over the fence and in total astonishment mentioned: " Wow, you have real goats here?", and then he was wondering why I was laughing so sudden and hard.

He was referring to sheep on the meadows.



I forgot what film that was, but it was a clever futuritic outlook. Holographic technology was very advanced and as a result the streets were full of holographic advertisements. For exmaple you would walk in the city and pass a travel agency, and "ZAP" you stand close to the Niagara Falls, stuff like that.

I think we might see those things in the near future.

The consumerism the lobbyists have indoctrinated people with in the past leads to strange phenomenons. Think about food in general, Mad cow disease, Chicken "KZ's" and all that, and we closed our eyes and were happy to buy a whole chicken for less than 5 euro. We destroyed food in Europe (Buttermountain etc) to keep prices artifically stable. The list of such phenomenons is truly long.

Frank Zappa comes to my mind reading your post.

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Zappa-Plastic-People.htm

But.... <grin> the plastic age is coming to an end, our oil is running out....

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Thx

I love inspiration ... you are a true artist.

Gary

Thanks for the compliment, coming from you I take it highly

Hello Cem,
It looks to me like you've got hold of a thread from which you can weave an interesting (i.e. depressing) photographic essay. I suspect that someone like Martin Parr may already have been down that road, but no matter.

Go, man, go.

Yeah, Martin Parr has crossed my mind too. On the flight to London, I have rewatched the Genius of Photography series and another BBC production about inexperienced photographers competing to become a pro, wherein Parr was one of the jury members.

I am definitely planning to do some more work in this area .

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Kathy,

What do you mean saying "let's go to Disneyland and play in the fantasy world for a while"? That, my love is the frog! It's just more complex a fantasy but still no different than a frog.

Mickey mouse or the various floats in the parade cost fuel to put on. People drive miles to get there too. A lot of consumtion of energy, but it does give pleasure.

Now the little plastic frog will last for 50 years and by then will either be recycled, saving resources or else be collected as a relic of this time. Little plastic frogs do not use any gas or other material once they are purchased and give pleasure to kids day in day out! Also the child will now recognize the creatures when it visits a zoo or the countryside.

My grandson has a fake monkey! I'm so glad it's fake, despite the fact that hydrocarbons were used in its MFR. It's a soft cuddly monkey, pure fakery but conveniently doesn't carry viruses or poop all over the place. He loves it and I'll read him stories about real ones and then teach him about them in the zoo. Hopefully there will be some left when he grows up!

Yes, you got the point about the LV purse. Being real is to get a genuine fake one!

Asher

Hi Asher,

You are right, just like Martin did at the beginning, to point out that these "fake" objects serve a purpose, there's no denying that. If there would be no demand, there'd be no supply either. My proposition was not agains making replicas of something else for whatever the reason. I am more disturbed by the mass exploitation of the "theme" theme.

Now, what about this "it does not poop all over the place" remark? I am certain you must be provacating us again ;-). So I won't react to that...

One thing is certain, the more we teach masses about these places/animals, the more people are willing to go there to see it with their own eyes. Look at the mass (cruise) tourism endangering the ecology at the poles or at the Galapagos Islands. Nowadays, wealthy persons around the globe want to see and experience everything; a trip to the Andes, Capes, Greenland, Poles, Siberia, the Great Wall of China, you name it. Nothing is far away enough to escape this. And the places where normal people can visit such as New York, London, Paris, etc, are a caricature of what they used to be. That is what's bothering me, among others....

Cheers,

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Hello Cem,

I think you are touching a deep subject here. "They present" us a world that is supposed to be consumed in the first place. I believe it is this consumer plague which is at the roots of such phenomenons.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz believed that we are over stimluated by media messages which leads to a emotional numbness. Instead of going out into the world and experiencing it ourselves, we are presented a fake, which of course carries a marketing message for us to be manipulated with.

I intend to think the same, well, I experienced it. I used to live in big cities, the really fast paced life, and looking back now, I can see what he meant. I made the consious choice to stay away from it. A little extreme it may occur to some, but I avoid cities like the pest. LOLOL

I have a funny story to share in that respect, a friend and business partner of mine that I had not seen for many years, visited me when I lived somewhat remote in Belgium. He arrived and stepped out of his car, looking over the fence and in total astonishment mentioned: " Wow, you have real goats here?", and then he was wondering why I was laughing so sudden and hard.

He was referring to sheep on the meadows.



I forgot what film that was, but it was a clever futuritic outlook. Holographic technology was very advanced and as a result the streets were full of holographic advertisements. For exmaple you would walk in the city and pass a travel agency, and "ZAP" you stand close to the Niagara Falls, stuff like that.

I think we might see those things in the near future.

The consumerism the lobbyists have indoctrinated people with in the past leads to strange phenomenons. Think about food in general, Mad cow disease, Chicken "KZ's" and all that, and we closed our eyes and were happy to buy a whole chicken for less than 5 euro. We destroyed food in Europe (Buttermountain etc) to keep prices artifically stable. The list of such phenomenons is truly long.

Frank Zappa comes to my mind reading your post.

http://www.mindfully.org/Plastic/Zappa-Plastic-People.htm

But.... <grin> the plastic age is coming to an end, our oil is running out....

Hi Georg,

I partially agree with Konrad Lorenz. OTOneH, people get numbed down and don't leave their safe homes to explore, OTOH they are stimulated to go out there and see the real thing. Hence, the mass tourism in ecologically endangered places, like I wrote to Asher above.

Speaking of Zappa, the appropriate quote would then be:

....
WATCH OUT WHERE THE HUSKIES GO
AN' DON'T YOU EAT THAT YELLOW SNOW
...

Cheers,

 

[doug anderson]

Hi Georg,

I partially agree with Konrad Lorenz. OTOneH, people get numbed down and don't leave their safe homes to explore, OTOH they are stimulated to go out there and see the real thing. Hence, the mass tourism in ecologically endangered places, like I wrote to Asher above.

Speaking of Zappa, the appropriate quote would then be:


Cheers,

Something else Lorenz argued: that sexual selection in some animal species, that is, selection by one body part, has resulted in a certain species of bird's inability to fly because of the size of its tail feathers. The human analogy applies.....

 

[Cem_Usakligil]

Something else Lorenz argued: that sexual selection in some animal species, that is, selection by one body part, has resulted in a certain species of bird's inability to fly because of the size of its tail feathers. The human analogy applies.....

Seriously Doug, I think that this is hilarious

 

[Michael_Stones]

What's the proper word for it? When photographers (i.e., producers of factive or fictive imitations of life) criticize toymakers (i.e., producers of factive or fictive imitations of life). Oh yeah, and when photographers put together products with similar content it's called a portfolio but when toymakers do likewise it's called a theme. So again, what's that word, it's on the tip of my tongue ...?

Cheers
Mike

 

[doug anderson]

Seriously Doug, I think that this is hilarious

It's absolutely true!

 

[Asher Kelman]

H
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Lorenz

Konrad Lorenz believed that we are over stimluated by media messages which leads to a emotional numbness. Instead of going out into the world and experiencing it ourselves, we are presented a fake, which of course carries a marketing message for us to be manipulated with.

Georg,

I think Konrad had it somewhat wrong. More than that, I'd say he is thinking in the wrong direction altogether. Yes, we may indeed be "over-stimulated" by media messages. However it does not lead to an emotional numbness. No, Georg, it's the opposite! We appreciate beauty and we are awakened to it's magnificent effect on our senses. We then require even more beauty around us. So we pay prices to satisfy our esthetic thirst. In the process moral logic and social consequences are vulnerable to damage, not our sense of beauty.

So to think "we are over stimluated by media messages which leads to a emotional numbness" is a wrong turn in our mental approach to this. Where does the "over-stimulation" then lead us? Rather it risks taking us to places beyond our moral compass, to moral indifference or worse.

The use of beauty at the service of anything, does not necessarily harm it's perception, but can influence moral, political and social judgement linked to it..

Asher

Incidentally, for Nicolas Claris, that's perhaps why some pictures in B&W are not in color. The artist might not want excess beauty of color to distract from the art itself.

 

[Kathy Rappaport]

The Fake World

There are many things that we modify to be perfect. How many images have you photoshopped to make the photo perfect? A Panorama might be, a scene with trees added or the moon put in.

What about the daily use of make up by women (and men too I guess) - a mask necessary to hide behind for artifical beauty? And lingerie like padded bras. More fake replaced by silicone for even more natural look.

How much perfection is really needed - how much fantasty?

 

[doug anderson]

There are many things that we modify to be perfect. How many images have you photoshopped to make the photo perfect? A Panorama might be, a scene with trees added or the moon put in.

What about the daily use of make up by women (and men too I guess) - a mask necessary to hide behind for artifical beauty? And lingerie like padded bras. More fake replaced by silicone for even more natural look.

How much perfection is really needed - how much fantasty?

Kathy: I thought the discussion was more about the quality of the things rather than their being merely simulacra. For example, a great sculpture of an elephant is much better than a factory stamped plastic elephant. There is also the issue of the numbing of human perception through various popular media: this trains us to merely notice things rather than view them with vision.

As regards makeup, I think that the masks human beings have made for themselves throughout history is a worthy and fascinating subject of photography.

Cheers,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

There is also the issue of the numbing of human perception through various popular media: this trains us to merely notice things rather than view them with vision.

Doug,

It might be an unexamined assumption that human perception is numbed through popular media. I could offer that the opposite is the case. There are however a number of meanings of perception.

The first, is an immediate response to the meaning of some information coming to us from our senses.

Further "perception", could extend far beyond that beyond that. This perception is not automatic necessarily. It may use imagination and contemplation. Such "perceptions" for deeper meaning beyond the obvious might, for example use higher faculties and search out and construct significance and relevance.

So which "perceptions" do you hold are numbed?

I'd say, that taken as a whole, popular media brings to us more information and opinions so that perceptions of all kinds might be enhanced.

Asher

 

[Asher Kelman]

It could be, for instances where an object is linked to some cause, myth, religious formulation, political purpose, person of rank that we are routed to some other thing or concept. We are re-directed to associations and therefore perceptions not of the essential nature of the thing observed.

Nevertheless, a person confronted with a real elephant, still likely perceives a real elephant. Beyond that follows "massive" or "beautiful", danger and more, but mostly related to the elephant.

To perceive " American Republican Party" or any social or political thing about it required education, a meme or propaganda.

Cheap plastic reproductions of an elephant, might even make the real elephant more easily recognized and linked to other information about real elephants.

In summary, I think that the idea that "cheap replicas numb our perceptions" is an unexamined assumption. Still, at its essence sit a number of worthy and challenging hypotheses.

Asher

 

[Bart_van_der_Wolf]

In summary, I think that the idea that "cheap replicas numb our perceptions" is an unexamined assumption. Still, at its essence sit a number of worthy and challenging hypotheses.

Not having studied Konrad Lorenz's theories in depth, I wonder, couldn't it be freely interpreted as: When fantastic plastic is so abundantly present, it therefore becomes 'the norm' and represents a (lower) standard.

After all, most school kids think that milk is manufactured in a factory, just like Coca/Pepsi Cola ...

Bart